Operator for overhead doors



March 16, 1954 G. w. HAHN OPERATOR FOR OVERHEAD DOORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 19, 1952 WWW GEORGE 14x HAHN INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY March 16, 1954 G. w. HAHN OPERATOR. FOR OVERHEAD DOORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 19, 1952 65056? W ///IH/V JNVENTOR.

A TTORNEY Patented Mar. 16, 1954 UNI TED STATES PATENT OF F I CE;

OPERATOR FOR OVERHEAD DOORS GeorgeW'. Hahn, Dallas, Tex.

Application March 19, 1952, Serial No- 277,405

8 Claims. 1:

This invention relates to door opening means and more particularly to a power operated mechanism for opening and closing d'oors such as are used upon garages and similar buildings.

Garages and similar buildings are often provided with upward opening doors which are mounted on a track controlling their movement. Such doors are usually balanced by springs or otherwise in order that the force needed to move the doors in one direction may be substantially equal to the force needed to move the door in the opposite direction. Power operated mechanisms for opening and closing such doors must be provided with control means to insure that the movement of the door in either direction is stopped and the power mechanism is deenergized if the door encounters an obstruction and that the direction of movement of the door is reversed upon reenergization of the power mechanism. Moreover, the power mechanism and the apparatus for controlling the power mechanism should be of simple and rugged construction and sufiiciently light in weight to permit their suspension from the ceiling of a door.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a new and improved power mechanism for opening and closing doors.

It is another object of the invention to provide a new and improved power mechanism for opening and closing upward opening doors of garages or the like.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a new and improved control means for power operated doors to stop the movement of the door if an obstruction is encountered by the door.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a new and improved control means for power operated doors to'stop the movement of the door if an obstruction is encountered by the door and to reverse the direction of movement of the door when the door is next moved.

Briefly stated, the new and improved power operated mechanism and control means therefor comprises a reversible electric motor which is connected through a sprocket driven flexible member to a carriage slidably mounted on a channel shaped overhead rail. The carriage is connected to a door mounted for upward movement by means of a drawbar. The sprocket is connected to the motor through an overload release mechanism which disconnects the sprocket from the motor upon the obstruction of the movement of the door and at the same time actuates a switch control means which stops the 2 motor and insures that: the direction of rotation of the motor will be reversed the next time the motor is started.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and its scope will be pointed out. in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a building having an upwardly opening door provided with the power operated mechanism of the invention for opening and closing the door;

Figure 2 is a sectional view, taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, some parts being broken away to show details of the overload release mechanism;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the carriage in place on the overhead rail;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 1, some parts being broken away to show the details of the control means for stopping the motor and reversing its direction of rotation; and,

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of the electrical circuit of the control means for controlling the operation of the motor.

Referring now to the drawing, the upwardly opening door I 0 of conventional design is formed of sections ll connected by hinges l2. The door is mounted between channel shaped guides l3, only one of which is seen in Figure 1, which are of substantially inverted L-shape having an overhead horizontal portion l4 and a vertical portion l5. The door may also be provided with balancing means, such as springs, not shown.

The power operated mechanism for opening and closing the door includes a channel shaped rail IS on which is slidably mounted a carriage IT. The carriage l1 comprises a control portion I8 which is disposed between the flanges l9 and of the rail IS, a slot 2| in which is received the flange l9, and a carriage flange 22 which ex,- tends parallel to but spaced from the web 28 of the rail. A pair of rollers 24 and 25 rotatably mounted on the carriage flange 22 by means of bolts 26 and 21, respectively, engage the Web 23 to keep the carriage properly aligned on the rail.

A drawbar 28 has one end pivotally secured between a pair of depending ears 29 and 30 of a carriage by means of a pin 3| and has its other end pivotally secured to the upper portion of t e eer n in n suit b e m nn It ill b apparent that as the carriage I! is moved back of the motor 45.

3 and forth on the rail 16, the door it) will move upwardly and then rearwardly between and on the rails 13 to open the door and forwardly and downwardly to close the door.

The carriage is moved by an endless flexible member 32 having a chain section 33 and a cable section 34. The chain section has one end secured to the central portion l8 of the carriage in any suitable manner and its other end is secured to one end of the cable section 34. The other end of the cable section 34 is secured to the ears 29a and 38a of the carriage by a pin 35. The cable section extends about a pulley 36 rotatably secured to the forward end of the rail l6 while the chain section 33 extends about a sprocket 31. The forward end of the rail I6 is secured to the garage above the door by a bracket 38 which is bolted to the garage and the forward end of the rail. The rear end of the rail is secured by bolts 39 and 48 to the flange 4| of an A angle iron 42 whose flange 43 is secured by bolts 44 to the housing of a motor 45. The motor is rigidly mounted on the ceiling of the garage by means of a pair of channel shaped brackets 43 and 41 which are secured to the ceiling and the motor housing by bolts 48.

Portions of the flange and the web 23 of the overhead rail 13 are removed as at 49 to permit the sprocket 31 to extend above the flange and allow one end portion of the chain section 33 to move over the flange 28 toward the pulley 36, the other end portion of the chain section is always disposed between the flanges l9 and 20 of" the rail.

The sprocket 31 is rotatably and slidably mounted on the shaft 50 of a speed reducing transmission 5| which is run by the drive shaft The sprocket has a sleeve portion 52provided with a pair of slots 53 into which are adapted to extend the cam sections 54 of a fixed collar 55 rigidly secured to the shaft 50 by a set screw 56. A free collar 51 is slidably disposed on the shaft 50 on the opposite side of the sprocket and is biased toward the sprocket by a spring 58 disposed about theshaft 50 between the free collar and a lock nut 60 on the threaded end SI of the shaft 50. A set screw 52 may be employed to lockthe nut 60 in any desired position on the shaft 50. It will be apparent now that the sprocket 31 and the free collar 51 are vslidable away from the fixed collar 55 if the load or force tending to prevent the sprocket 31 from rotating rises above a predetermined value, the sprocket will stop rotating while the shaft 50 will continue to rotate. The cam sections 55 will earn the sprocket away from the set collar against the force exerted by the spring 58. By adjustment of the lock nut 50, the value of the load on the sprocket necessary to cause this disconnection or release of the sprocket from the shaft 53 can be set at any predetermined value. In effect,

the spring, the free and fixed collars and the slidable sprocket constitute the overload release mechanism.

- The motor 45 is disconnected from its source of power and stopped each time the sprocket 31 is cammed away by the fixed collar by an arm 63 ,having one end rigidly secured to the free collar of the angle iron 34 is secured to the motor housing by bolts 88: The switch housing is secured l. the screw 1|.

terminal 93.

4 to the flange 85 by welding or in any other suitable manner.

A pair of mechanically operated switches 58 and 59 are mounted in the housing 66 and are actuated by the adjustable screws 10 and 1!, respectively, on a transverse arm 12 rigidly secured to the end of the arm 53 disposed in the switch housing.

The switch 68 is a normally closed microswitch which is opened by the screw 18 each time the sprocket 31 is cammed away from the fixed collar. The switch 68, when actuated, disconnects the motor 45 from the source of electric current and therefore stops the motor each time an overload is imposed on the sprocket 31. The switch 69 is a conventional switch which reverses the flow of current to the control windings of the motor 45 each time the motor is stopped. The switch 63 may be Model #RC-IOOAR made by the Guardian Electric Manufacturing Company which includes a rotary element 13 having a plurality of spaced slots 14 along its periphery. The rotary element is rotated a fixed distance each time the switch 69 is actuated by A cam 15 rideson the rotary element and moves three resilient leaves 16, 11 and 18 to which it is connected upwardly or downwardly as the rotary element is rotated step by step.

When the cam 15 is located in one of the slots or depressions in the rotary element 13, the contacts on the resilient leaves 11 and 18 are in the solid line portions shown in Figure 5 and cause current to flow in one direction through the conductors 19 and to the control winding in the motor 45 to cause it to rotate in one direction. When the cam 15 is located on the periphery of the rotary element between a pair of slots, the resilient leaves 11 and 18 are in the broken line positions shown in Figure 5 and cause current to flow in the opposite direction through the conductors 13 and 88 to the control winding in the motor to cause it to rotate in the opposite direction. At the same time, the resilient leaf 16 causes the light bulb 8| to be connected to a source of current.

Assuming now that the garage door l0 isclosed and the motor is not running, the sprocket 31 is cammed away from the fixed collar 55 and the screw 10 holds the switch 58 open. If the push button switch 82 is now closed momentarily, current will flow from the input terminal 83 through the conductor 84, the fuse 85, the conductor 86 to the terminal 81 of the motor, the main winding of the motor, from the terminal 88 of the motor through the conductors 89, 98 and 9|, the push button switch 82, and conductor 92 to the input At the same time current will flow to the control windings of the, motor from the input terminal 83 through conductor 84, fuse 85, conductors 34 and 95, resilient leaf 18, conductor 80, to the terminal 96 of the motor, the control windings, from the terminal 31 through the conductors 19 and 98, the resilient leaf 11, conductors 99 and 9 I, switch 82 and conductor 92 to the input terminal 83.

With current thus flowing through the windings of the motor, the motor will rotate causing the shaft 58 to rotate to bring the cam sections 54 of the flxed collar into alignment with the slots 53 of the sleeve 52 of the sprocket 31. The spring 58 now moves the sprocket, and the free sleeve 51, toward the fixed sleeve. The sprocket -31 will now rotate with thesaft 53. At the same time the arm 33, moves with the free sleeve 51 and allows the switch 98 to close. The push button may now be opened but, since the switch 68 is connected across the terminal 93 and the conductor 9|, current will continue to flow to the motor as described.

As the sprocket rotates, the chain section 33 is drawn in a clockwise manner about the sprocket, the carriage I1 is pulled to the left, Figure l, and the drawbar 28 pulls the door upwardly and rearwardly to open the door. The carriage moves to the left either until it contacts the stop 188 on the rail It or until the door in its movement contacts an obstruction. The sprocket 31 will then cease to rotate and will be moved outwardly against the resistance of spring 58 by the cam sections 54 of the fixed collar. The arm 53 will move with the free collar and the screw 18 will open the switch 88 interrupting the flow of current to the motor which will stop. At the same time, the screw H actuates the switch 59 and the rotary element 13 is rotated a predetermined distance so that the cam now rides on the periphery between a pair of slots 13. This causes the resilient leaf [6 to connect the light bulbs 8| across the input terminals 83 and 93, current flowing from the terminal 83 through the conductor 84, fuse 85, conductor 94, resilient leaf 18, conductor Nil, light bulb 8|, and the conductors Hi2 and I83 to input terminal 93. The light bulb will continue to burn until the door is closed.

If it is now desired to close the door, the push button switch 82 is closed and current is supplied as before to the terminals 81 and 88 of the motor 45 and therefore to its main windings. The direction of flow of current to the terminals 96 and 91, and therefore to the control windings, is reversed since the resilient leaves I1 and 19 are now moved to the broken line positions shown in Figure 5. Current 'will now flow from the terminals 83 through the conductor 84, fuse 95, conductors 94 and 95, resilient leaf [8, conductors I84 and 19 to terminal 91, the control windings and from terminal 96, conductors 80 and I85, resilient leaf ll, conductors 99 and 9|, switch 82 and conductor 92 to input terminal 93.

Since the direction of flow of current in the control windings is now reversed, the motor will now rotate in the reverse direction and shaft will rotate in a counter clockwise direction (Figure 1).

When the cam sections 54 of its fixed sleeve become aligned with the slots 53 of the sprocket sleeve 52, the sprocket will move on the shaft 59 toward the fixed sleeve and will rotate therewith. The switch 68 will now close and the motor will continue to run, the carriage being moved to the i right, Figure 1, and moving the door Hi toward closed position. This movement of the door will continue until it closes and hits the ground or until it contacts some obstruction. In that event again, the sprocket will move away from the fixed sleeve, the switch 68 will be opened by the screw Ill and the switch 69 will be actuated by the screw H to rotate the rotary element 13 another step to bring a slot M beneath the cam 15. Since the resilient leaf is now moved to the full line position, the light bulb 8l will go out. If theswitch 82 is now closed again, the direction of rotation of the motor will again be reversed and the door will be moved to open position.

The motor 45 may be a single phase alternating current motor supplied with alternating current from the terminals 83 and 93 connected to am source of alternating current of the proper voltage. I I

It will now be apparent that a power operated 6 mechanism for opening upwardly opening doors has been provided which will open and close such doors and will automatically stop the movement of the door if an obstruction is contacted by the door. Moreover, it will be seen that each time the door is stopped while moving in one direction, it will begin moving the opposite direction when the mechanism is again started. This insures that damage will not be caused either to the door or to the obstruction when the mechanism is again placed in operation.

It will also be apparent that the switch 82 may be located wherever desired and that if it is desired to control the door from more than one station, a plurality of push button switches, one at each station, may be connected in parallel with the switch 82. Moreover, the push button switch 82 may be replaced by a radio controlled relay or switch if desired.

Manifestly, the construction as shown and described is capable of some modification and such modification as may be construed to fall within the scope and meaning of the appended claims is also considered to be within the spirit and intent of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A power operated mechanism for operating upwardly opening doors comprising a reversible motor; a shaft driven by said motor; a first collar rigidly fixed to said shaft and provided with cam means; a sprocket rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft; means yieldably biasing said sprocket into engagement with said collar whereby said sprocket normally rotates with said fixed collar and said shaft, said cam means disengaging said sprocket from said fixed collar upon the occurrence of an overload on said sprocket; a first switch means for disconnecting said motor from a source of current; a second switch means for controlling the direction of rotation of said motor, said second switch means reversing the direction of rotation of said motor each time it is actuated; and means operatively associated with said sprocket for actuating said first and second switch means each time said sprocket is disengaged from said fixed collar.

2. A power operated mechanism for operating upwardly opening doors comprising a reversible motor; a shaft driven by said motor; a first collar rigidly fixed to said shaft and provided with cam means; a sprocket rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft; means yieldably biasing said sprocket into engagement with said collar whereby said sprocket normally rotates with said fixed collar and said shaft, said cam means disengagi'ng said sprocket from said fixed collar upon the occurrence of an overload on said. sprocket; a first switch means for disconnecting said motor from a source of current; a second switch means for controlling the direction of rotation of said motor, said second switch means reversing the direction of rotation of said motor each time it is actuated; a second collar rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft between said biasing means and said sprocket; and means connected to saidsecond collar for actuating said first and secondswitch ineanseach time said sprocket is disengaged from said fixed collar.

3. A power operated mechanism for operating upwardly opening doors comprising a reversible motor; a shaft driven by said motor; a first collar rigidly fixed to said shaft and provided with cam means; a sprocket rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft; means yieldably biasing said sprocket into engagement with said collar where- .aovassa by said sprocket normally rotates with said-fixed collar and said shaft, said cam means disengaging said sprocket from said fixed collar upon the occurrence of an overload on said sprocket; a first switch means for disconnecting said motor from a source of current; a second switch means for controlling th direction of rotation of said motor, said second switch means reversing the direction of rotation of said motor eachtime it is actuated; means operatively associated with said sprocket for actuating said first and second switch means each time said sprocket is disengaged from said fixed collar and a fiexible member driven by said sprocket and connected to a door to move said door to open and closed positions.

4. A power operated mechanism for operating upwardly opening doors comprising a reversible motor; a shaft driven by said motor; a first collar rigidly fixed to said shaft and provided with cam means; a sprocket rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft; means yieldably biasing said sprocket into engagement with said collar whereby said sprocket normally rotates with said fixed collar and said shaft, said cam means disengaging said sprocket from said fixed collar upon the occurrence of an overload on said sprocket; a

first switch means for disconnecting said motor from a source of current; a second switch means for controlling the direction of rotation of said motor, said second switch means reversing the direction of rotation of said motor each time it is actuated; a second collar rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft between said biasing means and said sprocket; means connected to said second collar for actuating said first and second switch means, each time said sprocket is disengaged from said fixed collar; and a flexible member driven by said sprocket and connected to a door to move said door to open and closed positions.

5. A power operated mechanism for operating doors comprising a reversible motor; a shaft driven by said motor; cam means rigidly secured to said shaft; a sprocket rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft; means yieldably biasing said sprocket into locking engagement with said cam means whereby said sprocket normally rotates with said shaft, said sprocket moving on said shaft out of locking engagement with said cam means upon the occurrence of an overload on said sprocket; a first switch means for disconnecting said motor from a source of current; a second switch means for controlling the direction of rotation of said motor, said second switch reversing the direction of rotation of said motor each time it is actuated; and means operatively associated with said sprocket for actuating said first and second switch means each time said sprocket moves out of locking engage- I ment with saidcam means.

6. A power operated mechanism for operating doorscomprising a reversible motor; a shaft driven by said motor; cam means rigidly secured to said shaft; a sprocket rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft; means yieldably biasing said sprocket into locking engagement with said cam means whereby .said sprocket normally rotates with said shaft, said sprocket moving on said shaft out of locking engagement with said cam means upon the occurrence of an overload on said sprocket; a first switch means for disconnecting said motor from a source of current; a. second switch means for controlling the direction of rotation of said motor, said second switch reversing the direction of rotation of said motor each time it is actuated, a collar rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft between said biasing means and said sprocket; and means connected to said collar for actuating said first and second switch means each time said sprocket is disengaged from said fixed collar.

'7. A power operated mechanism for operating doors comprising a. reversible motor; a shaft driven by said motor; cam means rigidly secured to said shaft; a sprocket rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft; means yieldably biasing said sprocket into locking engagement with said cam means whereby said sprocket normally rotates with said shaft, said sprocket moving on said shaft out of locking engagement with said cam means upon the occurrence of an overload on said sprocket; a first switch means for disconnecting said motor from a source of current; a second switch means for controlling the direction of rotation of said motor, said second switch reversing the direction of rotation of said motor each time it is actuated; means operatively associated with said sprocket for actuating said first and second switch means each time said sprocket moves out of locking engagement with said cam means; and a flexible member driven by said sprocket and connected to a door to move said door to open and closed positions.

8. A power operated mechanism for operating doors comprising a reversible motor; a shaft driven by said motor; cam means rigidly secured to said shaft; a sprocket. rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft; means yieldably biasing said sprocket into locking engagement with said cam means whereby said sprocket normally rotates with said shaft, said sprocket moving on said shaft out of locking engagement with said cam means upon the occurrence of an overload on said sprocket; a first switch means for disconnecting said motor from a source of current; a second switch means for controlling the direction of rotation of said motor, said second switch reversing the direction of rotation of said motor each time it is actuated, a collar rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft between said biasing means and said sprocket; means con nected to said collar for actuating said first and second switch means each time said sprocket is disengaged from said fixed collar; and a hexible member driven by said sprocket and connected to a door to move said door to open and closed positions.

GEORGE W. HAHN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

